A large search effort was launched during the morning in search of African swine fever.
Now two cases have been discovered and the dispatched hunters have found seven dead wild boars.
– Some carcasses have been there for a long time and are really ugly and disgusting, says Karin Olofsson-Sönne, deputy state veterinarian SVA to TV4 Nyheterna.
Two more cases of African swine fever have been found in Fagersta in the large search effort that began on Saturday morning. This is confirmed by Karl Ståhl, State Epizootologist for TV4 Nyheterna.
– We have analyzed samples from three animals in the area. Two of them came from animals very close to the first positive case. And they were also positive, he says.
Seven dead wild boars found
The third animal was found some distance from the other animals and was found not to have been infected with swine fever. Something that Karl Ståhl sees positively.
– It is not the number of cases that is interesting and relevant, but how large the area is in which we find positive cases. That says something about how long the infection has been in the area and how difficult it will be to combat, he says.
Both cases have been detected in dead wild boars.
In total, about 40 hunters have searched the area where the infection was found. During the day, seven carcasses have been found.
– Five of these have been sampled, two will be sampled tomorrow, says Robert ter Horst, operation leader.
The samples will be analyzed and the search will continue through Sunday. Robert ter Horst emphasizes that the work will continue according to plan.
– We don’t have to think again. The area remains and we continue as planned, he says.
The search will continue for several months.
“Flies flew out of my mouth”
This week, the first ever case was confirmed in Sweden. Since then, an area of almost 1,000 square kilometers in Fagersta has been cordoned off. Hunters have been trained and tasked with searching for dead boars in the area.
The hunter who found the last wild boar says he could smell the stench long before they arrived.
– It smelled so bad that I couldn’t take the test. It was really bad. Flies flew out of the entire jaw and body as we approached. The whole body was emptied of flies.